Archives : google analytics
Use Web Analytics To Guide Online Success
When we polled our recent SmartGroup how many had Google Analytics installed, less than 1/3 raised their hands. When we asked how many reviewed their analytics and changed their site based on the results, they were all ears.
March’s SmartGroup was dedicated to education around setting up, reviewing and morphing your web site around web analytics as well as a brief overview into On-Page and Off-Page Analytics. Here is the Web Analytics PowerPoint review of these types, why analytics is important as well as differences between Log Files and Page Tagging Analytics.
As clients of Smart Solutions, all sites record log files and you receive training on reviewing these log file analytics through AWStats. Our monthly narratives, delivered via email, are a summary of these metrics.
Google Analytics (Page Tagging Analytic Tool) is a free tool from Google that enhances your analytics through better visual graphs, customizable metrics, conversion goal setting measurements and segmentation.
1) To setup your analytics, register your site domain with Google Analytics.
2) Email Smart Solutions with the code (to place on your site) received at the end of registration and validation.
3) Edit your settings, including Filter your IP address (so that your visits aren’t counted!) Here’s a site to help you find your IP address.
4) Setup your GOALS (this is very critical and offers a way to setup a value amount for your goal).
5) View your reports and take a baseline measurement of traffic, content, visitors, bounce rate and referring sites/engine traffic.
6) To understand the Google Analytic metrics, download this helpful PDF from WAA (Web Analytics Association).
7) Consult with us or test variations on your web site to better enhance your content, traffic and overall conversion goals.
Smart Solutions is here to help guide your understanding of Web Analytics, why they are important and what changes to your web site may help increase your overall conversions. Contact us if questions arise at 541.388.4398!
Analytic Confusion – AWStats vs. Google Analytics
Some web site owners or webmasters use AWStats to view and analyze their web site traffic, some install Google Analytics on their site for additional insight, and some use both. What are the differences between AWStats and Google Analytics? One of the main differences is they generate their data using different methods, and each has its advantages and disadvantages. This is why they sometimes generate very different traffic results. Below are some of the reasons for this.
AWStats (AWS) uses log based tracking. Every time users perform actions on your website, the server records or logs details of those actions. AWS puts together log data into a meaningful format. Advantages include the ability to track bots, downloads of PDFs, images and documents, and tracking failed requests. Disadvantages include not tracking some views of cached files, inflated page views due to tracking every file requested for a page because it can’t tell all those files are assembled into a single “page,” and the inability to see the number of users behind firewalls and shared connections.
Google Analytics (GA) uses script based tracking. It relies on JavaScript, cookies, and a remotely-hosted piece of code to collect, process and interpret user data. Advantages include GA seeing a page the same as a user, rather than a collection of files and images (thus giving a more accurate page view count), reports that communicate business value better to the webmaster, and better data collection inside web pages and paths to determine things like where a user abandoned filling out a form. Disadvantages include not being able to track user behavior if they have JavaScript turned off or don’t allow cookies, and the inability to track search engine visits since search engine spiders (in fact, many automated agents or ‘bots’) don’t run JavaScript by design.
The bottom line is that it gets complex, and the only way around it is to make assumptions as to what constitutes a unique user or visitor, and simply accept that inaccuracies are inevitable. Google Analytics reads low, AWStats reads high, and that’s the way it is.
If you would like to explore this more in depth, read our complete article on the differences between AWStats and Google Analytics.
Some of this information was also derived from these articles:
Google Analytics & AWStats Work Really Well Together
Google Analytics vs AWstats log file analysis – the differences
Smart Solutions RSS
